Courses

List of Buddhist Studies courses taught at UCLA.

Anthropology

Upper Division Courses

175R. Societies of Central Asia. (4) Lecture, three hours. Overview of culture and society among the diverse peoples of Inner Asia, including Mongolia, Tibet, and Soviet Central Asia. Topics include environment and economic adaptation, politics in traditional isolation and within the framework of recent national integration, kinship, forms of marriage and status of women, religion and the social order in Hindu/Buddhist culture contact zone, and current problems of modernization. P/NP or letter grading.

Art History

Lower Division Courses

56A. Art of India and Southeast Asia. (4) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Survey of major artistic monuments of Indo-Iranian and Southeast Asian cultures, concentrating on formal and iconographical problems, as well as social and political conditions under which artworks were patronized and produced.

88A. Buddha's Life and Teachings in Art, Texts, and Worship. Lower Division Seminar, three hours. Limited to freshmen. Development of Buddhist art in India through Buddha's teachings, expressed in art, architecture, texts, and ritual. Re-creation of Buddha's life by analyzing art and reading Buddhist texts of his life.

Upper Division Courses

114A. Early Art of India. (4) Lecture, three hours. Not open to freshmen. Survey of Indian art from Indus Valley cultures to the 10th century. Emphasis on Buddhist and Hindu backgrounds of the arts.

114C. Japanese Art. (4) Lecture, three hours. Not open to freshmen. Japanese art from its beginning in prehistory through the 19th century. Emphasis on development of Buddhist art and its relationship with the culture.

114D. Later Art of India. (4) Lecture, three hours. Not open to freshmen. Survey of Indian art from the 10th to 19th century. Decline of Buddhist art, last efflorescence of Hindu architecture, Muslim painting and architecture, and Rajput painting. P/NP or letter grading.

114E. Arts of Korea. (4) Lecture, three hours. Art and archaeology of Korea from the Neolithic Period through the Yi dynasty. Particular emphasis on early archaeology and state formation, Buddhist art, Koryo ceramics, and Yi literati painting.

C115E. Art and Material Culture of Early Imperial China, 210 B.C. to A.D. 906. (4) Lecture, three hours. Palaces and tombs of early imperial dynasties, impact of Buddhist art (cave temples), rise of new media and technologies. Concurrently scheduled with course C261B. P/NP or letter grading.

Chinese

Upper Division Courses

160. Chinese Buddhism . (4) Lecture, three hours. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Introduction and development of Buddhism in China, interaction between Buddhism and Chinese culture, rise of Chinese schools of Buddhism such as Pure Land and Zen, contributions to Chinese culture.

165. Introduction to Chinese Buddhist Texts . (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 100A or 110C or Korean 100A or Japanese 100A. Readings in Buddhist texts written in literary Chinese and taken from translated Indian sutras, indigenous exegetical materials, Chinese apocryphal scriptures, and Ch'an writings. Problems in translation from Indo-European languages into Chinese; evolution of Chinese Buddhist terminology. Coverage varies. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor.

Graduate Courses

265A-B. Seminar: Chinese Buddhist Texts. (4) Seminar, three hours. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. . S/U or letter grading.

Asian Languages and Cultures

Lower Division Courses

60. Introduction to Buddhism. (4) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. General survey of development of Buddhism in India, focusing on those religious doctrines and meditative practices most essential to various Asian traditions of the religion.

60W. Introduction to Buddhism . (5) (Formerly numbered 60.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3. Not open for credit to students with credit for former course 60. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. General survey of development of Buddhism in India, focusing on those religious doctrines and meditative practices most essential to various Asian traditions of the religion. Particular attention to problems involved in study of religion. Satisfies Letters and Science Writing II requirement. Letter grading.

61. Introduction to Zen Buddhism. (4) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Introduction to Zen traditions and to interplay between Zen and other fundamental cultural and religious concerns in East Asia. Topics include role of Zen within Buddhist thought and practice, artistic and literary arts, society, and daily life.

162. Buddhist Meditation Traditions . (4) Lecture, three hours. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Survey of theory and practice of meditation in Buddhism, with emphasis on Theravada and Zen schools. Topics include various typologies of meditation, symbiotic relationship between meditation and soteriology, and processes by which doctrinal innovation prompts changes in meditative praxis.

163. Buddhism across Boudaries. (4) Lecture, two hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: one course from 60W, 61, 161, 162, Chinese 160, 165, Japanese C160, 165, Korean 160, or 165. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Investigation of various themes in development of Buddhist traditions across historical periods as well as national and cultural boundaries, including issues of praxis, politics, and translation. Letter grading.

201. Proseminar: Approaches to Buddhist Studies. (4) Seminar, three hours. Designed for graduate students in Buddhist studies. Introduction to history of field, bibliography, relations with other disciplines, and current issues and research trends. S/U or letter grading.

Japanese

Upper Division Courses

C160. Japanese Buddhism . (4) (Formerly numbered 160.) Lecture, three hours. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Development of Buddhism in Japan in its cultural context, with emphasis on key ideas and teachings. Concurrently scheduled with course C260.

C260. Japanese Buddhism. (4) Lecture, three hours. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Development of Buddhism in Japan in its cultural context, with emphasis on key ideas and teachings. Concurrently scheduled with course C160. Graduate students read additional texts and submit one additional written assignment.

265A-B. Seminar: Japanese Buddhist Texts. (4) Seminar, three hours. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. S/U or letter grading.

Korean

Upper Division Courses

160. Korean Buddhism . (4) Lecture, three hours. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. Introduction and development of Buddhism in Korea, interactions between indigenous Korean culture and Sinitic traditions of Buddhism, Korean syntheses of imported Buddhist theological systems and meditative techniques, and independent Son (Zen) schools of Korea.

165. Introduction to Korean Buddhist Texts . (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisites: course 100A and/or Chinese 110C. Introduction to reading Korean Buddhist texts written in Sino-Korean and taken from indigenous doxographic materials and philosophical writings, Korean Buddhist apocryphal scriptures, native exegetical commentaries, and Son (Zen) texts. Coverage varies. Texts may be read in either Sino-Korean or literary Chinese. May be repeated with consent of instructor.